Monthly Archives: June 2016

Blue mountains

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Weather

At 5:00 light west wind 15/20 knots;Sky:cloudy;Visibility:10 miles; Sea:calm.Some rain in the morning

Ecological

The famous couple got their babies.They were not easy to observe and the parents became alarmed as soon as we got closed. so impossible to get pictures . About birds : the colony of pigeons -guillemot is getting bigger and  we have only 3 or 4 elephant seals on main.

Visitors

We got a group of people from Metchosin. They were so happy to be here that for us it has been such a pleasure to share our small world. On person thought not be able to come in his lifetime and the other one has been a  fisherman and used to see the rocks from the sea and never came on the rock .  Very touching ..We went to the top of the lighthouse ;so much fun for them and for us !

Maintenance

The desalinator was on for 9 hours and the generator for 4 hours.Guy changed the propane tank of the main house and we will need to fill up the finished one .Ready to go on the jetty.

Other

2DND blasts – strong ,always surprising.

In the evening around 6H00, looking by the window I realized that the mountain and the Vancouver Island coast was all blue. Beautiful but unusual and sure enough ,going outside it was smoke smelling…That remembered me the 5Th July ,2015 this awful yellow sky! I checked right away on CBC and it was some 4 apartment buildings in Saanicht burning. A friend of us living closed never got a clue of it.

 

Oystercatchers chicks there!

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This morning after the panels cleaning I went to have a look on the nest and furtively I just got the glimpse of one little bird. Because of the parents around I didn’t came too close and excited I came back and check on my computer camera and there it was not evident that the nest was with no eggs so Guy went back to have a look and the first time he saw only an empty nest and many white feathers all around so he fears for the worst and finally he went a second time and here they were :two adorable little black birds . As soon as possible we will get pictures

Heermann’s Gulls?

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Weather

At 5:30 westerly 30 knots wind ;Visibility: 10 miles ; Sea: wavelets and white caps. The wind stayed pretty steady the whole day.

Ecological

For the first time I saw a gull quickly replacing the other on the nest .Speaking about gulls, we saw around 20 gulls among the others with a red bills (maybe Heermann gulls ? ) It a real challenge to know the kind when you are not a specialist! Only 3 elephant Seals ( the 2 large males and a young) on main ,around 80 harbour seals on Turbine and I just spotted 2 Seal lions(Californian) on South Islands. Where are they gone? At one time all the gulls were in the sky : I jumped on my camera and when I looked at my pictures later I discovered that the problem was an Oystercatcher ! So small birds but that long and thin beac must be fearsome. The oyster catcher nest under camera with no move ,the bird on the nest. Oyster catcher nest :Still

Maintenance

The solar panels are one of the favorite perching places for gulls and I tell you they need to be cleaned! Guy organised the wood closed to the boat shed and discovered a bench under the pile. He cleaned and sanded it, so now it’s again a bench and we have a gossip corner!.He saw some woods and did a new pile, Winter will come…

Other

A call from Kyle . He was around with a group of people from the college . We had an eye on the boat in case…Tomorrow he will come back and will visit the Rocks with another group . At the same time he will bring some stuff like wood chips for the compost

 

Full moon ,no moon on the Rock

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Weather

Very calm day even our flag stayed still for a while but late in the afternoon the sky was pretty dark on the south side  of the rocks and and we got a gale warning :35 knots were expected.Actually we got 32 at 10:00. We have been disappointed by a no moon situation on a full moon day! It’s interesting to know that it was full moon and Summer solstice at the same time . Last time it happened was in 1948. Almost Once in a lifetime.

Boats

A tugboat with its wooden long tail.Some watching boats like usual. One diving boat almost on shore with 2 guys in the water.

Ecological

we saw 3 eagles :2 at the same time on Middle Rocks and one on South Islands.

Chunk went for a long and quiet bath.

Gulls are getting more aggressive.

Other

Quick recycling trip to the college in the afternoon and we brought  back our delighted daughter at the same time . She spent a wonderful time in this wild environment.

Helicopter above in the morning.

 

Beautiful Summer week-end

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Weather

For the whole weekend  Wind: Light west breeze; Visibility: over 15 miles; Sky: light clouds to sunny. Some rain in the evening on Friday (good for a rock cleaning!)

Ecological

The bird on the nest under video is pretty steady on her nest and we are expecting the small ones pretty soon. During the week end we have seen no Sea lions . They all disappeared from the rocks :a pretty silent place now because even 4 of them can be very noisy.We saw the same day 2 groups of 4 orcas on the south side of the island.The moon is getting bigger and the days longer …lovely  and gorgeous time of the year and especially on Race Rocks. We have 6 to 7 elephants seals on main. they are moulting a lot and you can find pieces of skin all around.The gulls now are everywhere ,very organized and some are still mating and preparing new nests . They get in fighting a lot more too. No cormorants but 4 cormorants went above may be they will do a coming back soon.

Boats

With the Weekend and Summer many many whale watching vessels around the rocks Most of the time they can be closed but they are respectful. However I have to say that one time just before sunset 2 of them went full speed between main and Channel Rocks: sad and frustrating.

It’s a busy time for the cruising vessels . Victoria had 5 boats on the same day. they are magnificent when they leave in the sunset . One time one crossed a huge barn full of wood ; 2 important sides of the west coast economy right under my eyes.

Visitors

1 visitor one of our daughter came on Sunday and stay overnight with us.

Maintenance

Closets tidying up inside

Grass cutting (compost side )

Solar panels very dirty those days

 

Other

An Coast guard helicopter did a big circle but not above the reserve. on Saturday a plane did the same and the usual seaplane on Saturday

 

 

Census day

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Harbour Seal:104

Californian Sea lions:8

Steeler:1

Elephant Seals :8 on main and 1 on middle

Glaucous winged gulls:667

Oystercatchers:10

Harlequin ducks:1

Pigeons -Guillemots:30

Canadian Geese:2

Eagle:0 but 3 seen around this week

 

Weather

Light Southwest wind,sea :flat;Sky:cloudy;Visibility:+10 miles.

Ecological

More gulls everyday and some are mating so new nests coming.The census from the tower confirmed what we thought.It was interesting to discovered a new Elephant seal on middle rocks :a very long and golden specimen. We never saw her before on main. Those last day we have between 6 and 8 elephants on main at night.About gulls : it hard to believe that those grayish birds with a black beak will become those white and light gray ones with a yellow beak..beautiful and short mutation

Maintenance

The generator has been working for 4 hours (last time :12 days ago) and the desalinisator  for11 hours (last time 8 days ago).

Guy reemplaced the water cistern hatches that were worn out with some good marine plywood ones and put a few coats of paints .The second coat was a bright yellow ! for a few second it was a shock for me ! at the end a discreet gray…ouf!

The grass around the eco guardians house has been cut

Inside work: kitchen cabinets

Boats

No so busy in the strait . For whale watching vessels ,it’s the same traffic every day. A huge cruising boat going to Victoria and a beautiful and big fishing boat going to the West coast in the early morning

Other

One and only one” BOUM”! from DND at 10h30…

Some visitors in the evening : Chris family :6 people

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More gulls and eagles around

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Weather

Beautiful day with a light west wind ,a calm sea and a very good visibility

Ecological

Before 7:30 AM,2 eagles were already around getting the gull mad.It looks that the colony is really growing these days . Now many one and 2 years birds, are around on the adjacent rocks  and when they feel threaten ,everyone of them ,except the incubating ones,are in the air.They take the solar panels as a launching platform and I never saw them as dirty as Today..We needed two full big buckets of water to get the job done. We discovered a nest and 3 eggs under the solar panel. The cleaning will become complicated  when the chicks are born!

Finally the old /sick Elephant Seal went back to the water after 36 hours on  land . She didn’t stay long but at least.I don’t know if she managed to get some food…her skin looks a little better.

Visitors

7people came with Kyle on second Nature and among them Riley and his parents..They went to visit the lighthouse. The Elephant Seal were reacting a lot to people .

Maintenance

Jetty work:Guy fixed the new ladder; very useful when it’s full of Sea lions and at the high tide. He had to put first anchors in the concrete.We had to clean the end of the jetty . It was so dirty and smelling.Actually an heavy duty cleaning day on the solar panels too.

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Meeting with Peter Chandler : Exchange of instrument for Seawater sampling datas

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Weather

Wind: At 5H00 coming from West 5 knots. Will be 15 to 25 knots late afternoon                  Sky: Cloudy; Visibility :!0 miles;Sea:calm and flat. After a pretty good day the sky clouded over and rains lashed against the windows

Ecological

For the first time this year the eagles were steady around the Rocks today .We saw them 3 times and 2 at the same time once.So the gulls were pretty excited and maybe also because of the stormy and heavy weather. Yesterday for the census there were not so many pigeons-guillemots but today I could count at least 50 of them.Same thing for gulls Guy counted 120 gulls on North Rock in the evening

So we went to meet Peter Chandler from UVIC for an exchange of the instrument. We got exactly the same instrument but they need to be recalibrate once a year. Lately Peter found that the salinity record that we took were too high ( Probably because of the instrument).

He explained us that an important factor is if there is not enough wind for a season the water become saltier and the salt concentration stays on the surface.

Also actually the weather cycles are still there but we can’t predict them like we used to do it 40 years ago.

We spoke also about the amount of fish in an area :he explained that the phytoplankton grows better in the colder water so the fish follow .We could think because of the warming of the ocean that salmons have disappeared like in 1974 in the South of Vancouver Island but in fact they mainly have changed their migration path to get food and all the species  that get fed on them did too.

Race Rocks station is very important because of its unique situation not in a bay but in the open ocean with a lot of currents all the time . The datas we got (and have been for so many years) are really useful. They give informations that don’t concern a specific area only.

 

The sick or old Elephant Seal

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The same animal 2 days later(on the left picture). She finally managed to go back to the water for a short swim and came back on the jetty and doesn’t move. We will see what happens in the coming days

An Elephant Seal in a bad shape

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Weather

Wind:Very windy day ! From 7:00 AM It was around 25 knots from West ,got to 35.4 knots around 11:00 AM and stayed strong to 13:00.. later it  dropped to 25 knots and stayed like that to 10:00 PM. Atmospheric pressure:1012 HPA and Temperature:13.3 Celsius. Rain in the evening but not enough to get the solar panels cleaned.

Ecological

We saw the jet of a whale but it was very far…

We worry a lot for a female elephant Seal that looks in very bad shape. We found her in the railway trying to get the water but not moving,panting and shivering.. and her skin was full of pink scares..impressive .Gulls and Oystercatchers are now incubating and most of the nest have 3 eggs .Some pigeons-guillemots are still mating. A lot of biological activity around the rock.The big male elephant seals are not finished their moult. it will take a while.

Boats 

2US ships were going to the ocean. Usual traffic but not so many Eco-tour boats :too much wind I guess